The following letter was sent to prime minister Jean ChrŽtien Sept. 1 by the presidents of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Agricore, Keystone Agricultural Producers and Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.
Dear Prime Minister:
We are writing you today, as agricultural organizations representing almost 100,000 producers in Western Canada, to request your immediate involvement in the farm income crisis which is threatening the livelihoods of thousands of farm families.
We are in the depths of the greatest crisis to hit the farm community since the Depression, and we sincerely believe it merits your personal attention. We would like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss the problem and potential solutions.
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The current crisis is the result of drastically reduced world prices, which are being kept artificially low by the lucrative subsidies other countries provide their producers. This comes at a time when Canadian producers are still adjusting their operations to the loss of the Crow Benefit, which in many cases doubled the cost of their most significant input Ð transportation. They are also coping with an increase in federal cost recovery fees in excess of 28 percent.
Canadian farms have evolved to be some of the most efficient operations in the world. In fact, Canada has the third largest average farm size, with our major competitors, the United States and the EU, trailing far behind. There are no inefficient managers left to lose in Canada: we are losing the cream of the crop – young farmers who were to be the future of the industry.
The Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program, as designed, is not assisting many of the producers in greatest need. While we appreciate minister Vanclief’s willingness to consider changes to the program, these changes are taking more time than many producers have.
Further, average gross AIDA payments are insufficient to cover most producers’ fuel bills let alone the costs of transportation, fertilizer, pesticides, equipment, employee wages, land taxes and debt servicing. Although it is anticipated that the conclusion of the WTO negotiations will provide some degree of relief, it will be years before those benefits are realized. Clearly more needs to be done now….
Agriculture represents 8.5 percent of GDP, is responsible for 1.9 million jobs and $ 22.3 billion in exports, which is 30.4 percent of the merchandise trade surplus. Clearly agriculture is a vital sector to the Canadian Economy deserving of additional support.
The scope of this crisis goes far beyond the farmgate. It not only threatens to force thousands of farm families from their livelihoods and their homes, but threatens the viability of rural communities, local businesses, and our provincial economies.
Surely this is not the vision Canadians share for rural communities and farm families. We firmly support the Team Canada approach, but believe it needs to begin at home. We need short-term solutions to address the problem, but we also need a long-term vision for improving the agricultural environment. Canada’s trade negotiators need to remain firm on increasing market access, especially for value-added products produced on the Prairies. It is crucial that we diversify our prairie economy to create additional value-added opportunities to provide local markets for our products and jobs here at home.
The organizations that have signed this letter are well recognized as responsible spokespersons for agriculture. We have tried to remain constructive and we intend to continue in that way.
The spontaneous agitation promoted by other organizations is symptomatic of the genuine severity of the problem and it is extremely important that responses are forthcoming before the situation escalates.
Mr. Prime Minister, we respectfully ask you to make the farm crisis your priority and to work co-operatively and directly with us to find workable solutions.
